SIRO Ireland

SIRO, a strategic joint venture formed by ESB and Vodafone, was established in May 2015 to construct and manage a 100% fibre-optic broadband network across Ireland. The company operates as a wholesale open-access provider, meaning it builds the network infrastructure and then makes it available to various retail telecommunication providers, who in turn sell broadband packages to end-users. This business model fosters competition in the Irish broadband market among more than twenty retail partners, including notable names like Sky, Virgin Media, and Vodafone.

The core of SIRO's service is its Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) or Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) network, which leverages the existing electricity infrastructure of its parent company, ESB. By running fibre-optic cables alongside ESB's overhead and underground power lines, SIRO can deploy its network more cost-efficiently and rapidly, avoiding the need for extensive new trenching. This unique approach ensures a pure fibre connection directly into homes and businesses, eliminating the copper wire segments that typically slow down traditional fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connections. The result is a more reliable and resilient service, capable of delivering symmetrical speeds for both downloads and uploads.

Initially launched with a €450 million investment, SIRO aimed to address the digital divide between Dublin and regional towns by connecting 500,000 premises. The company's network is now on track to pass over 700,000 premises by 2026, driven by a total investment of over €1 billion. As of mid-2025, the network is available in 143 cities and towns across every county in Ireland. SIRO provides connection speeds of up to 2 Gigabits per second (Gbps) for residential customers and up to 10 Gbps for enterprise clients, with the network architecture designed to support future speeds of up to 25 Gbps.

The company is led by CEO John Keaney, who was appointed in November 2018. Keaney had been with SIRO as Finance Director since its inception in 2014, having previously held senior financial roles at Vodafone Ireland for a decade and worked as a senior manager at Deloitte. His background includes an Economics degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. The leadership structure reflects the joint venture agreement, with the CEO role alternating between executives from Vodafone and ESB every four years. The company’s first CEO was Sean Atkinson from ESB.

Keywords: wholesale broadband, fibre-to-the-premise, FTTP, FTTB, Irish telecommunications, open-access network, ESB, Vodafone, John Keaney, Gigabit internet, dark fibre, network infrastructure, regional development Ireland, telecom joint venture, high-speed internet, pure fibre, broadband operator, connectivity solutions, digital infrastructure, Irish broadband market